PWD Scam: Arvind Kejriwal's Kin Not Produced, Delhi Court Issues 2nd Production Warrant

New Delhi, May 12: A Delhi court today issued a second production warrant against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's relative Vinay Bansal, arrested in connection with an alleged scam in the Public Works Department (PWD) after Tihar jail authorities failed to produce him before it.

The first production warrant for Bansal, a nephew of Kejriwal, was issued yesterday by Additional Sessions Judge Sanjay Khanagwal, who had also sought an explanation from the Tihar jail superintendent for failing to produce him.

Today, Duty Metropolitan Magistrate Shilpa Jain sought Bansal's presence in the court tomorrow. Bansal was admitted to a hospital and sent to one-day judicial remand after he fainted in the courtroom on May 10, when the court rejected the anti-corruption branch's plea for Bansal's three-day police remand, saying he was not medically fit.

In a courtroom packed with lawyers and media persons, Bansal fainted during the hearing and a stretcher was brought to take him to an ambulance stationed outside the court.

Bansal yesterday moved a bail application, which will be heard on Monday.

Previously, the public prosecutor had argued that Bansal's custodial interrogation was necessary to dig out the facts in the case.

Opposing the remand, Bansal's counsel B S Joon said the FIR was filed in 2017 and since then no evidence has been found against the accused. He said the FIR wrongly levelled allegations under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act, which is meant for public servants and Bansal was not one.

Bansal, the son of Kejriwal's late brother-in-law Surender Bansal, was arrested on May 10 by the ACB. Three FIRs, including one against a company run by Surender Bansal, was registered by the ACB in connection with the matter on May 9 last year.

Three companies, including Renu Constructions (owned by Bansal, Kamal Singh and Pawan Kumar), were named in the FIRs. In a complaint, Rahul Sharma, the founder of Roads Anti-Corruption Organisation (RACO), had alleged that Kejriwal and PWD minister Satyendra Jain misused their office to grant contracts to Bansal. However, they were not named in the FIR.

The RACO, which claims that it monitors construction projects in Delhi, had alleged that a firm linked to Bansal was involved in financial irregularities in building a drainage system in northwest Delhi. It was also alleged that the bills sent to the PWD for unfinished works were "false and fabricated".